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Bell happy with Wellington effort

Incoming Wellington coach Andre Bell pronounced himself well satisfied after the Lions scored a bonus point ITM Cup win over Otago at Carisbrook on Saturday night.

Wellington won 35-22 for its second win in three games and also retained the Mike Gibson Memorial Trophy.

It was a fine farewell for Wellington coach Jamie Joseph, who will next week move to Dunedin to take over as head coach of the Highlanders.

"We didn't really talk about it being Jamie's last game," said Bell, who was an Otago team-mate of Joseph's when they lived in Dunedin during the 1990s. "We just tried to keep our focus on the game itself, especially after losing to Counties last weekend.

"We're pretty pleased. Once we got our game going, we scored some good tries. Our aim was to get field position and then use our backs.

"I think our guys had a long hard look at themselves after the loss to Counties. There was more intensity and our set piece was good."

Wellington captain Neemia Tialata said the Lions had put in a lot of hard work during the week.

"Our set piece was good but we still have to work at the little things," he said.

"We'll keep grinding it out in the forwards and make sure the backs get some good, go-forward ball."

Downcast Otago captain Alando Soakai lamented his team's error rate after its third consecutive loss which has left it at the bottom of the table.

"We showed we could play in the last quarter but it shouldn't take that long," he said.

"We made too many simple mistakes and our set piece didn't function as well as we would have wanted."

Wellington has 10 points after three rounds but Otago, with only a solitary bonus point, seems set for a long, difficult season.

Otago plays North Harbour at Albany in round four next Thursday while Wellington is at home to Waikato next Saturday.